Nugagaha Kapalle Illangakoon (born 12 April 1956) was the 33rd

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Inspector-General of Police An inspector-general of police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most ...

, serving from 16 July 2011 to 11 April 2016. He also served as an

advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...

to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Early life and education

Nugagaha Kapalle Illangakoon was born on 12 April 1956 in

Balangoda Balangoda is a town in Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an urban council located away from Colombo and from Ratnapura on Colombo - Batticaloa Highway(A4). It is one of the largest towns of the Sabaragamuwa Pro ...

, the youngest in a family of five. He received his education at Udagama Maha Vidyalaya in Balangoda before attending

University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...

in 1974, where he graduated in 1979 with a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

. He taught Mathematics and Social Science at Hambegamuwe Maha Vidyalaya in Thanamalwila.

Police career

In 1982 Illangakoon joined the

Police Service The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens ...

as a Probationary

Assistant Superintendent of Police Assistant superintendent, or assistant superintendent of police (ASP), is a rank that was used by police forces in the British Empire and is still used in many police forces in the Commonwealth. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held b ...

. His first appointment was as the Assistant Superintendent in-charge of the

Kurunegala District Kurunegala is a district in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. The district is . It consists of thirty divisional secretariats, 1,610 grama niladari divisions and 4,476 villages. It has fourteen electoral divisions, two municipal councils, nin ...

. He served in Jaffna, Ampara and Batticaloa as Area Commander. In 1983 he was one of the officers responsible for establishing the Police Special Task Force (STF), serving as the Task Force's first Deputy Commandant. Illangakoon was appointed as the Director

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

in 1999 and promoted to Deputy Inspector General of Police. On 16 July 2011 he was appointed as Inspector-General of Police, replacing the outgoing Inspector-General

Mahinda Balasuriya Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya (18 June 1953 – 29 April 2021) was the 32nd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2009–2011). Balasuriya was educated at Ananda College, Colombo, before obtaining a BSc. in Chemistry and a M.Phil at ...

. He retired on 11 April 2016 after five years in the position.

Later work

Following the deadly Easter bomb attacks, Illangakoon was appointed as an advisor to the

in April 2019, and appointed a member of the

Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Attacks The Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Attacks is a Presidential Commission of Inquiry in to the deadly Easter bomb attacks appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena on 21 April 2019 tasked with investigating the causes and backgr ...

headed by

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Vijith Malalgoda Vijith K. Malalgoda is a judge from Sri Lanka. He is a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and former president of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka The Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka, commonly known as the Appeal Court, is the se ...

, and including former Law and Order Ministry Secretary, Padmasiri Jayamanne, tasked with investigating the causes and background for the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related Terrorism, terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illangakoon, N. K. 1956 births Alumni of the University of Sri Lanka (Colombo) Sinhalese people Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan Inspectors General of Police Living people